Paternity Leave: the Ultimate Family Vacation Video

Will you take time off to be with be new baby? At DadLabs we think you should max out your paternity leave. But it's easier said than done. A few ideas on ditching work to bond with your baby.Read the full transcript »

Daddy Clay: Little free association exercise I say a word, you say word first comes to mind. Ready? Paternity. Daddy Brad: Suit. Daddy Clay: Same exactly, but we're about to change that. Daddy Brad: To what? Daddy Clay: Leave! Daddy Brad: Okay. Daddy Clay: This is what Taking Back Paternity is all of extra come in back by the way it's the what kicking back paternity is all about right we want people to think paternity leave instead of paternity suite its something we're actually kind of serious about. Daddy Brad: Today's show on the subject of paternity leave is brought to you by BabyBjorn. Which is cool because if you look at this box of the baby carrier cover. There are more dads on it than moms. Daddy Clay: Why are we so high on paternity leave thing? Well its all about the Science. Jeremy Adam Smith: It is used to thought that only mothers were responsible for the well being of children but during the past ten years we discovered that when men take leave and when they take steps be very involved fathers it provides a lot of long term benefits to children, children who's fathers take paternity leave have fewer behavioral problems they do better at school and they are healthier both physically and emotionally its also good for mothers. When father takes the paternity leave mothers tend to be happier and all so physically healthier. Daddy Brad: So we see that dad's involvement from the beginning is good for kids, but it's good for dads as well. Daddy Clay: We have seen that anecdotally time and time again dad telling us a story that the most important bonding moment the thing it really set the tone for their father hood happen in those early weeks you got to be present you got to be there for that moment to happen right daddy brad? Daddy Brad: Sure. Yeah I remember one time my wife is bright and walker was going crazy we couldn't get into quite down and I took him and little bit first time and I got him to be quite and that just all right we are going to set our relations ship from there. Daddy Clay: My oldest was a premature baby and was born by emergency c section and he was in neonatal intensive care unit, my wife had just had c section she wasn't up yet to go down scrub in, studies has shown that skin to skin contact is really important for pre mature baby so somebody had to go down there so it was me so I take rope and for the first three weeks that he was in the neonatal intensive care unit I was the kangaroo care guy and I would go down there and scrub in and take my shirt off put the baby on my chest and would do that it was like therapy and it was really good for him and it was in those moments when I had that baby on my chest you know the time role you he was just three and half pounds little guy and struggling to eat and everything else, and those first moment something click in me and I said this is me and this is what I am about in that moment I think really it set the tone of my fatherhoods. And if I had to be at work during those three woks if I wasn't I was on leave if am not able to do that and be there day in and day out how much would that. Daddy Brad: So, a little three and half pound baby is like ten feet tall and its huge some guys not really comfortable with leave for a number of reasons. Jeremy Adam Smith: The biggest reason why it men don't take paternity leave is that they don't make 13% of American companies offer it, research also shows that even when the leave is offered they won't take advantage of it because they don't want to take the pay cut that goes along with it or they are afraid that taking the leave is going to hurt their long term career prospects so men in America are not taking advantage of paternity leave because the rules are against them and they are officially discouraged from doing it. This isn't to fit their imaginations, several survey show that the majority of corporate managers believed that men should not take advantage of leave or flex time when it is offered and we know

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